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Yangming's Philosophy of Mind and Cabinet Politics in the Ming Dynasty

Jiao Kun

230K0

This book is titled "Yangming's Psychology and the Cabinet Politics of the Ming Dynasty". It mainly discusses the social background of the popularity of Yangming's Psychology in the mid- to late Ming Dynasty from a historical perspective, as well as the political ideas and activities of the people in the school. Mainly using empirical methods of history to refute some views put forward by predecessors. For example, with regard to the view that Wang Yangming turned to enlightened people to practice Taoism after enlightenment in Longchang, it is believed that Wang Yangming's disciple group was mainly local middle- and lower-class scholars, specifically Juren and Shengyuan. Therefore, Wang Yangming's preaching line should be summarized as "enlightened scholars practicing Taoism." In terms of politics, Wang Yangming did not give up his concern for the situation in the court after his epiphany. On the occasion of the "Great Ceremony Meeting", Wang Yangming expressed his position to his disciples at court and tried to guide the political situation through these disciples. When he lectured and preached, he focused on the cultivation of middle- and lower-class scholars, and it was precisely out of the expectation that these disciples would be able to save the decline of politics after they became officials in the future. What Xinxue targets is, to a large extent, the shortcomings of the scholar-official class as the political subject. Under the political system at that time, the most obvious result of this shortcoming was the cabinet's exclusive power to establish the party and exclude dissidents. The Yangming School has advocated the spirit of decentralization and co-governance among scholar-bureaucrats since Yangming, and later scholars also inherited this concept. Since Jiajing, people in the school either resisted the cabinet and suffered repeated blows, or they joined the cabinet and prospered for a while. After entering Wanli, the conflict between the cabinet and the ministry led to intense party strife. Although some of the school moved slightly closer to the cabinet, they could not be tolerated by the party leaders in the cabinet. The rest were gradually absorbed by the Donglin faction, a new force that opposed the cabinet.